Stratford Lee Morton Papers (MSS087), 1737-1969 | MSS Manuscripts

Stratford Lee Morton (December 14, 1887 – February 18, 1970) was a St. Louis insurance executive and civic leader. Born in Dixon, Illinois, Morton graduated from Central High School in 1906 and Washington University in 1910. Morton began his insurance career in 1908 when he answered a St. Louis Globe-Democrat want ad seeking “energetic and ambitious solicitors” for Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company. He became general agent for eastern Missouri and southern Illinois in 1912. He retired in 1952, but continued to sell insurance and maintained an office until his death at 314 North Broadway.

Morton was also a delegate-at-large to the Missouri state Constitutional Convention in 1942, where he was an advocate of a one-house legislature. From 1946 to1948 and from 1952 until his death, he was president of the St. Louis Academy of Science and was instrumental in the establishment of the Museum of Science and Natural History at Oak Knoll Park in Clayton.

Mr. Morton assembled extensive collections of rare books, maps, manuscripts and documents, old prints, household articles and antique furnishings. He was particularly interested in items pertaining to St. Louis and the West. In the 1920's, Morton purchased a 225-acre tract of land near Gray Summit, Missouri which he named Persimmon Hill and housed a large portion of his collections.

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Scope and Contents: Consists of personal papers including correspondence (1915-1969) with bookdealers, librarians, and public figures including Joseph Tumulty, Secretary to President Wilson; Herbert Hoover; and others. Other personal papers include materials relating to the Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1943, photograph of Morton and his collection of early American furniture, etc., miscellaneous articles by or about Morton, miscellaneous clippings relating to Morton and to book collecting, and lists of various collections of books owned by Morton. Finally, the Morton papers include a miscellaneous collection of papers of historical interest including letters from notable individuals and documents of historical interest including William Bigler, Alexander Hume Campbell, William Clark, Samuel Clemens, John Galsworthy, Abraham Lincoln, John Morton, Booth Tarkington, George Washington, etc.